By Honorary Reporter Imane Bouhnika from Algeria
Photos = Imane Bouhnika

Honorary Reporters from around the world on Aug. 23 attended the Korea.net networking event "Chasing Kocnuni." 

Held in Seoul, the event aimed to enhance communication and build relationships among such reporters through activities, games and gifts. Attending were around 40 on-site participants and 150 Honorary Reporters on Zoom including myself.

The event's host Robin welcomed us and outlined the schedule of communication activities and team-building games, starting with the "Golden Bell" culture quiz. On-site participants competed to find a card featuring Kocnuni, KOCIS' official mascot, with the winner earning a prize. 

After the quiz, a casual conversation followed with the Honorary Reporter program managers Kal Hong and Misun Jeon. They answered questions from attendees both on-site and online, discussed the challenges of managing the program, and thanked the reporters for their support.

Korea.net Honorary Reporters General Manager Kal Hong (left) and Manager Jeon Misun (right) host a special talk segment.

Two Honorary Reporters then took the stage: Frenky Ramiro de Jesus from East Timor and Foteini Chatzoudi from Greece.

Frenky, who joined the program last year, is a medical doctor pursuing a master's in medicine in Korea. He writes articles in Bahasa Indonesian and said he improved his writing by churning out numerous articles on Korea.net.

A travel enthusiast and Honorary Reporter since 2021, Chatzoudi is a graphic designer with around 20 articles produced this year. She shared tips on writing interview articles, highlighting her experiences with prominent Korean artists and celebrities.

Honorary Reporters Frenky Ramiro de Jesus' from East Timor and Foteini Chatzoudi from Greece  

Another segment had survey nominations displayed on screen and kind messages from Honorary Reporters to one another including inspiring stories of strong bonds and cooperation. A gift went to the most inspiring nomination from two Honorary Reporters from Egypt.

The activities included a bingo game and another involving coordination between offline and online reporters. Zoom attendees used the whiteboard feature to draw keywords related to Korea such as "N Seoul Tower," "bibimbap" and "Lotte World." On-site participants had to guess the word based on the drawings.

On-site Honorary Reporters play games at the event.

Guest speakers at the event included Dongguk University professor Aiden Hwang, who  provided tips on article writing; photographer Song Eun-Suk, who gave a lecture on his craft; and Korea.net's editor-in-chief Kang Seong Chul, who spoke on the event and participation by Honorary Reporters throughout the year.

From left to right clockwise are Korea.net editor-in-chief Kang Seong Chul; photographer Song Eun-suk; former Honorary Reporters program manager Enny Kim; and Dongguk University professor Aiden Hwang.

Toward the end of the event, in-person attendees tried Korean food while those online were assigned Zoom breakout rooms. My group included Honorary Reporters from India, Nepal, Germany, Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil and Egypt.

We introduced ourselves and our occupations and discussed our favorite aspects of Korean culture, the languages we use for Korea.net articles, our journey in the program and preferred writing topics. We also talked about finding article topics and covering Korean events in our countries. 

Honorary Reporters receive prizes for winning games.

At the end of the event, winners of the games received gifts like a Samsung Galaxy tablet PC, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Buds and digital camera. Other prizes went to online winners of the bingo game.

msjeon22@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.